Poetic Tides Through Time

The Elf And The Dormouse

Under a toadstool crept a wee Elf,
Out of the rain, to shelter himself.

Under the toad stool sound asleep,
Sat a bog Dormouse all in a heap.

Trembled the wee Elf, frightened, and yet
Fearing to fly away lest he get wet.

To the next shelter - maybe a mile!
Sudden the wee Elf smiled a wee smile,

Tugged till the toad stool toppled in two.
Holding it over him, gayly he flew.

Soon he was safe home, dry as could be.
Soon woke the Dormouse - "Good gracious me!"

"Where is my toadstool?" loud he lamented.
-And that's how umbrellas first were invented.

                                       Oliver Herford [1863-1935]

From: The Home Book of Verse by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1917, pg.234

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         Day 16- "The Elf And The Dormouse"  is a fun little poem by an American writer, born in England, who wrote and illustrated for numerous magazines some playful children's poems. I thought it was time to have a little bit of a fairyland type of poem.

         For more about Oliver Herford and his poems, here are two references: http://www.americanartarchives.com/herford.htm and https://www.poemhunter.com/oliver-herford/. Of interest, Oliver Herford did an illustration for a children's poem, "Jack Frost" by Gabriel Seloun [1861-1930] for Ladies Home Journal in 1926. Gabriel Seloun was a contemporary of Oliver's. Jack Frost illustration: http://carrollgardenclub.org/seasonal-art-lhj-1926/jack-frost-lhj-1926-oliver-he...

Jack Frost

  Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.~~Robert Frost